NOTEBOOK: Paul W. Bryant girls lose in Pelham tournament

Thursday

Nov 26, 2009 at 12:01 AM

From combined reports

PELHAM | Casey Jones scored 27 points on Wednesday to lead the Gardendale High School girls basketball team to a 61-20 victory over Paul W. Bryant in a tournament at Pelham High School.Haley Hardman added 12 points for Gardendale.Paris Strother scored eight points to lead Paul W. Bryant (2-5). Ariel Spencer added six points.Spencer scored nine points as Paul W. Bryant lost to Woodlawn 54-43 in a tournament game on Tuesday.Paul W. Bryant plays Pickens County in Reform on Tuesday.

NORTHPORT | Tuscaloosa County High School was the host team for the first Tuscaloosa County Championships, which concluded on Tuesday.TCHS won the team title with 230.5 points, followed by Brookwood (178.5), American Christian Academy (140), Hillcrest (80), Northridge (45.5) and Paul W. Bryant (16).TCHS coach Jamie Griffin said he was pleased to bring together six varsity wrestling squads within the county.“It went off really well,” he said. “I think everybody was pleased just by the fact that we were able to have this many schools participating within the county. To actually have enough kids to put on a real tournament kind of shows the growth of the sport. That’s what we’re trying to promote.”Griffin said he has 36 wrestlers on his team, and almost all of them competed in the tournament.“That’s critical to getting your team better,” he said. “It’s all about mat time. The more time you get in a live situation, the better you’ll be.“I don’t know that any one of my kids stood out. As a coach, I was pleased by the overall performance, especially this early in the year.”Griffin said he hoped the event will continue and will be hosted by different schools in the future.Individual champions included Solomon Archibald (103 pounds) of TCHS; Brian Hancock (112) of TCHS; Makade Archibald (119) of TCHS; Jessy Averett (125) of Brookwood; Haden Hallman (130) of TCHS; Billy Kornegay (135) of TCHS; Joe Shaw (140) of TCHS; Chris Allen (145) of Brookwood; David Beam (152) of TCHS; Cody Marcum (160) of TCHS: Michael Warren (171) of Brookwood; Daniel Hughes (189) of Brookwood; Jonathon Kladifko (15) of Brookwood; and Trey Wynn (heavyweight) of Hillcrest.TCHS will compete against Wetumpka and Prattville on Tuesday at Prattville.